


Has Aways Rested in Her Hands

by zarabithia



Category: White Collar
Genre: Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-15
Updated: 2010-02-15
Packaged: 2017-10-11 14:23:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/113355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth understands how their triangle works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Has Aways Rested in Her Hands

  
Elizabeth supposes, if anyone ever finds out about the relationship she and Peter have with Neal, that they will do one of two things: either they'll shake their heads and condemn the threesome outright or they'll think it's sweet, but an obviously unbalanced triangle.

Because, Elizabeth knows, people look back on the history her husband has shared with Neal and they think she's suffered because of it. She's lost track of the number of agents who have given her sympathy pats, hugs, or grimaces and remarked with various degrees of pity about how hard it must have been, having a husband so _obsessed_ with Neal Caffrey's criminal career.

She certainly _does_ remember those early days, when Peter was working around the clock. She remembers the long nights getting longer than they'd ever been. She remembers going weeks without having a decent sit down meal with her husband, to say nothing of a decent _night_ with her lover.

But she remembers too leaning over her husband's overworked shoulders and catching her first good look at the infamous Neal Caffrey, before her husband dashed out the door to chase down another lead. She also knows that her husband's face wasn't the one that brought the blush to her cheeks later that night, as she stretched out in her big, lonely tub and let her fantasies keep her company.

She also remembers the sense of normalcy that settled over their lives once Neal had been caught, sentenced, and locked up. The days that they didn't see each other got shorter in number, and sometimes it was Peter left waiting on his busy wife's schedule to allow them time together. Certainly, there had been a much more balanced sense of give and take in their marriage during those days.

And yet, those days saw the first exploration of what a set of _handcuffs_ could do to their sex life, and the first time any of Elizabeth's toys found their way out of her bedside table to pleasure Peter, instead of her. Neal might have been locked away, but he was a very prominent part of their lives then.

Then, of course, came Neal's current association in their lives. Elizabeth does grant that it is unexpected, and certainly not conventional. She supposes she will also grant that her husband and Neal do, by virtue of their respective jobs, spend more time together than she is afforded with either of them.

But the unspoken heaviness that had descended among the three of them since Neal's release had only ended when Elizabeth greeted them both, wearing nothing but Neal's hat and one of Peter's shirts. Elizabeth remembers - will _always_ remember - the weight of that damn breaking in the living room that day, as the three of them half tumbled, half ran to the bedroom to claim one another. She knows, even if the rest of the world doesn't, that this decision has always rested in her hands.

And her husband and Neal may taste each other more than she does, on some days of the week, but Elizabeth never is more content than when she lies in bed, nestled between them both.

The rest of the world can extend all the pity they like, because when concerned gazes look in her direction, Elizabeth thinks of how well the cuffs, hat, and ties look, littering their bedroom floor. It is clear to Elizabeth where pity - if any is to be given - should be alloted, and it isn't anyone who has ever spent a night in the Burke bedroom.

Secure in that knowledge, Elizabeth returns any condescending smile, hug, or handshake, with ease.


End file.
